“That terrible feeling inside “

http://a-mother-from-gaza.blogspot.com/

Ok I admit I’ve been a little lazy this week. Part of that is has to do with the fact that, wrapped up in my pre-travel anxiety as it were, and my mad rush to tie up as many loose ends as possible and write as much as possible, I think I burnt myself out.

Yousef
He makes it all better

That and being here can be overwhelming at times; this week has been one of those times. Sometimes I’m too caught up to notice, but then on a “down” week, it catches up to me. I feel powerless, even crushed, in the face of an ugly, foreboding, larger than life force that seems to grow and mutate with every passing day. It is everywhere and nowhere at once. And try as you might, you cannot hide from it.

It squeezes you tighter and tighter, instilling within you a feeling of helplessness and dejection and isolation, until you begin to feel you are alone, even among 1.5 million others. And there is nothing you can do about it.

Sometimes I don’t want to do anything about it. I just want to run away, somewhere I hope it can’t reach me. Sit on the beach, listen to the troubled stories that the Gaza’s lonely Mediterranean is desperately trying to tell. “Take me to the beach at sunset, so I may listen what the beach says…when it returns to itself, calmly, calmly.”

Yousuf frolicked about in the sand, building and destroying his imaginary creations, pleased with his new-found prowess. He glanced over at me, sensed something of sadness in my eyes, and patted me on the shoulder-“ma3lsh, mama, ma3lish” he said… “It’s ok”…and suddenly, just like that, everything was.

Audio Report from Bil’in Demonstration 28th April

bilin crowd

This is Pennie Quinton reporting for IMEMC:


Audio Report from Bil’in 28th April 2006 – mp3

[Update, 1/5/06: this a new version of the audio file – due to technical problems, the last version cut out before the end.]

“On Friday the 28th of April on behalf of the International Middle Eastern Media Centre I traveled to Bil’in to cover the weekly protest and resistance to the Israeli illegal occupation of the Bil’in village’s agricultural lands.

“The young people of Bil’in village had the longest Palestinian flag I have ever seen, it stretched for over 300m’ and the youth held it over their heads as if they were a giant Chinese dragon they carried it up a steep hill to the apartheid wall, a construction of razor wire, manned by soldiers standing on jeeps and humvess with their guns raised. The protest was peaceful with some of the older men chanting for freedom at the army.

“The soldiers then brought down wooden clubs on the men’s heads. This did not deter their protest so the soldiers then fired sound bombs and tear gas. Two men had to be carried away for medical treatment.

“The protestors briefly divided to avoid the gas and sound bombs then returned to sitting in front of the jeeps and humvess this time with a group of Israeli and international protestors.

“The Army again attempted to disperse the protest by firing more gas and sound bombs but once the smoke cleared the protest continued.

“Leaders of the Bi’lin village closed the yellow gate which had been opened to allow the army access to invade Bi’lin if necessary they sat astride it beating out a noise protest with rocks on the metal. Again tear gas and sound bombs were used, this time the protestors dispersed as the youth of the village hiding in the olive orchards began to hurl stones at the soldiers from bandoliers. As I left the demonstration I came across a mother and her young son of six years choking from the effects of the gas, they had been working in the orchards.”

Listen to the report for more…

http://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/04/339096.html

The Trip from Tulkarm to Ramallah: 3 road blocks, 5 check-points, 7 cars

How long does it take to travel from the north-east of the West Bank, to the centre? In such a small area of land, you might think not long. A Palestinian ISM co-ordinator gives an account of the realities of trying to get out of the prison that the Israeli military is turning the north into.

by Abdel-Karim Dalbah

An average journey

  • Drive distance: 90 km
  • Drive time: 90 min max – directly in one car.
  • Cost: 15 shekels by bus or 20 to 25 shekels by car (service)

On the 23rd of April 2006 and for more than five months

  • Drive distance: more than 300 km
  • Drive time + walking + waiting at checkpoints: 5 hrs, 30 min
  • Cost: 65 Shekels

WHY

Because of the Israeli policies of closure and checkpoints and the fact that I am a Palestinian from Tulkarm (in the north of the West Bank).

HOW

I left my home at 8:30 am and walked to the bus station. There were no buses, and no direct cars so I had to take the sevice to Innap checkpoint (15 km east). Before we reached it, we were stopped by a flying checkpoint after 5 km. We waited about 15 min in a long line of cars before our driver decided to go back and take another road, going around the checkpoint. This added another 15 min as we had to go 200m east around the check point and continue to Innap (the main checkpoint). We reached Innap and waited there about 15 min when the soldier came and told our driver that it was forbidden for anyone to pass today. So the he had to use another road to drive around . We reached a road-block just 1 km east of the checkpoint. The cost had increased from 5 to 10 shekels by then.

The end of the first part.

When we reached the road-block we had to walk about 200 m to cross it. We started waiting for a car to take us to Ramallah. When one arrived the driver was asking for 50 shekels each which is too much – it’s normally 20 or 30 maximum. After 10 minutes, I took a taxi with four others to a village called Funkuk, halfway to Ramallah. This cost 10 shekels each. From there, a taxi driver offered to take us to Borgeen road block for another 10 shekels. We agreed to this but after driving for about 20 minutes we were stopped by another flying checkpoint near Haris. The soldiers prevented us from passing, so the driver took us back to Funduk. He offered another choice – to try another long road through different villages. Along the way we had to get out of the car several times because the parallel road we were taking to avoid the road-blocks was so rough. After driving more than an hour we reached the Borgeen road block – it cost 20 shekels to get there.

The end of the second step.

After we passed the road blocks, we felt like we were about to reach Ramallah, taking one last service. However, the drivers said not it would not be that simple. The soldiers at Attara checkpoint near Bir Zeit were apparently not allowing people from the north of the West Bank to get into Ramallah.

However, at the road-block before Attara, we would be able to pass and then get another car to Ramallah. What should we do? We agreed to this plan and drove (10 shekels each) to Attara checkpoint which we reached after 45 minutes, passing through some villages that I’ve never been though before. Instead of a car waiting on the other side of the road block there was a Border Police jeep which stopped anyone from being near by. We stayed there about 30 minutes, trying to pass though the main checkpoint, at first with a taxi and then by trying to speak to the commander. We tried to point out to him that we were all over forty years of age. After a long time he said “sorry. You can go and try to get in through Qalandya”. When we asked about going that way we discovered that it would cost 20 shekels more.

The end of the third part.

Eventually, we decided not to go that way but also not to go back since by this point we were less than 4 km from Ber Zeit [which is just north of Ramallah]. Instead, we decided to get past by walking. This meant we had to go over the mountain – but we would have to pass away from the checkpoint so that the soldiers at the military tower couldn’t see us. So after we had walked about 3 km, we finally reached Ber Zeit town, from which we caught a car for only 4 shekels each.

We finally reached Ramallah at 2:30 pm, tired and hungry, but happy.

The end of the fourth step.

The ministry of education was closed, where I needed to go to sign a paper for my sister. I missed it for today. I also missed the training of new ISMers, so I decided to go to my nephew’s house to have a rest for a while, but because I was so tired I slept for about 2 hours.

The day is over.

I spent the next day doing some work till 6.00pm before I went back to the car station to leave for Tulkarm. After 15 minutes the car filled up and we drove directly to Tulkarm. On the way we passed through the roads that were forbidden for us to pass on the way to Ramallah. Not one check-point stopped us! One of the men in the car said “it is very easy to get into the prison”.

This situation has lasted for over five moths for Tulkarm and Jenin residents – it is a collective punishment. The Israeli government claims this is for security reasons.

An Hour at the Checkpoint

Interview with a Palestinian High Schooll student from the Friends Boys School in Ramallah, Palestine from their Web sight – Behind the Wall

By BW News Team

With every time the sun rises on Palestine, it witnesses stories and situations of sorrow and suffering. Palestinian people are being burned by the fire of occupations.

BW: What is the story you want to share with us?
H: “It happened last year, in May precisely, I was going home from school through my usual way. Since I’m heading to Beit-Hanina I have to pass some checkpoints. I was passing normally when a soldier called me.”
BW: Which checkpoint was that?
H: “Al-Dahia checkpoint.”
BW: Go on please.
H: “She asked me for my ID card; I said I was underage and showed my passport instead. Unfortunately, it has been expired a couple of days ago.”
BW: So?
H: “I was stopped and wasn’t allowed to pass; they even said I have to go back to Ramallah. I refused and insisted on passing, but they rejected it; and every time I tried the worse their tone became. At last they said I will be jailed at the station if I didn’t go.”
BW: Oh, what did you do then?
H: “The only person I could think about was my mother; so I called her and waited.”
BW: How long did you wait?
H: “Well, not for long, my mother was furious when she heard; she arrived then and fought the soldiers with her words; they yelled back and threatened to separate me from her.”
BW: What did she do next?
H: “She kept trying; but as a response they took me to their cabinet.”
BW: How did you feel at the time?
H: “It was one of the worst feelings I ever had; I was afraid and cried, I cried a lot.”
BW: What happened next?
H: “It lasted for 30 minutes; I was returned to mom when ‘Mahsoum Watch’ arrived.”
BW: What is Mahsoum Watch?
H: “They are a group of Israeli women who seek help for Palestinians at checkpoints.”
BW: What did they do to help you?
H: “They talked to the soldiers, who immediately checked my passport and allowed me to pass.”
BW: Why do you think this happened to you?
H: “For spite, and to demoralize Palestinians.”
BW: What is your message to the world?
H: “I want everybody in this world to know that we, Palestinians, are not terrorists; and that it’s them who are trying to turn our lives into hell. They are hoping to make us leave our lands to them, but this will never happen.”

What I find most interesting about this article is that the Mahsoum Watch, a group of Israeli women, help Palestinians at checkpoints— I find that impressive, regarding the grand disputes between the two peoples. It’s unbelievable that this kind of event occurs so often, and especially to such young kids.
————————————————
Names have been withheld due to the sensitivity of this article.

Border Police Lash Out

The huge Palestinian flag that has been used by the village on demonstrations

by an ISM Media office volunteer

Today’s non-violent demonstration against the Wall in Bil’in was attacked by the Israeli soldiers, as usual. The demonstrators reached the gate in the annexation wall that is stealing some 60% of the village’s land. The gate was blocked by several jeeps with Israeli border police standing on top and menacingly waving their clubs and pointing their M16 rifles at the demonstrators.

The crowd of Palestinians, Israelis and internationals chanted and sang against the wall and called on the soldiers to leave the village. Mohammed Khatib of the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements stood on the gate and was beaten by three soldiers at once, seriously bruising him on the arms. Several other Palestinians were also beaten, although there ended up being no arrests this week.

Eventually, the military dispersed the demonstration using sound grenades, which, in conjunction with the beatings, provoked a few stones from some of the shabab. The soldiers then shot rubber bullets and teargas at the crowd. A 14 year old boy was wounded and Many tear gas suffered from tear gas inhalation.

Israeli Border Police lash out

This exchange repeated itself few times. Each time most of the demonstrators moved out of the line of fire. Israelis and internationals tried to stay close to the soldiers at the sides, talking to them and shouting at them – trying to convince them to stop shooting at children. The presence of internationals and Israelis, along with large amounts of journalists and photographers means that they rarely use live ammunition, unlike in places such as Nablus. There, very few internationals and press are present, and they regularly use live rounds against unarmed protesters – often children.

A soldier points his rifle at unarmed demonstrators. Rubber coated metal bullets are often lethal – a boy in Nablus shot in the head with one three days ago is in critical condition, and is not expected to escape brain-death.

The Popular Committee is expecting the Wall in Bil’in to be completed in July, so they now fear an escalation in the oppression of the army against the village – in terms of both arrests and general levels of violence used against the villagers. Abdullah Abu-Rahme, co-ordinator of the Popular Committee called for as many Israelis and internationals as possible to join them now – both on the weekly demonstrations and to stay overnight in the village and the outpost to act as an presence in case of army entering the village.